Ways that God manifests Himself to a soul who loves Him

May 5, 2022 • 3 min

#DoctorsOfTheChurch #Doctrine #Love #Prayer #WhatTheSaintsSay

From The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, page 146
By St. Catherine of Siena

Of the way in which God manifests Himself to the soul who loves Him.

Knowest thou how I manifest Myself to the soul who loves Me in truth, and follows the doctrine of My sweet and amorous Word?

In many is My virtue manifested in the soul in proportion to her desire, but I make three special manifestations.

The first manifestation of My virtue, that is to say, of My love and charity in the soul, is made through the Word of My Son, and shown in the Blood, which He spilled with such fire of love.

Now this charity is manifested in two ways; first, in general, to ordinary people, that is to those who live in the ordinary grace of God. It is manifested to them by the many and diverse benefits which they receive from Me.

The second mode of manifestation, which is developed from the first, is peculiar to those who have become My friends in the way mentioned above, and is known through a sentiment of the soul, by which they taste, know, prove, and feel it.

This second manifestation, however, is in men themselves; they manifesting Me, through the affection of their love. For though I am no Acceptor of creatures, I am an Acceptor of holy desires, and Myself in the soul in that precise degree of perfection which she seeks in Me.

Sometimes I manifest Myself (and this is also a part of the second manifestation) by endowing men with the spirit of prophecy, showing them the things of the future. This I do in many and diverse ways, according as I see need in the soul herself and in other creatures.

At other times the third manifestation takes place. I then form in the mind the presence of the Truth, My only-begotten Son, in many ways, according to the will and the desire of the soul.

Sometimes she seeks Me in prayer, wishing to know My power, and I satisfy her by causing her to taste and see My virtue.

Sometimes she seeks Me in the wisdom of My Son, and I satisfy her by placing His wisdom before the eye of her intellect, sometimes in the clemency of the Holy Spirit and then My Goodness causes her to taste the fire of Divine charity, and to conceive the true and royal virtues, which are founded on the pure love of her neighbour.